'LulzSec suspect' arrested by New Scotland Yard

New Scotland Yard has confirmed that it has arrested a 19-year old suspected hacker in Essex, UK, in connection with a series of hacks and denial-of-service attacks against a number of organisations.
It is being widely speculated that the arrest is in connection with the high-profile attacks by the LulzSec hacking group, which has claimed amongst its victims Sony, the CIA, the FBI, and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).
Officers from the Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU) arrested the man last night at approximately 10:30pm, on suspicion of breaching the Computer Misuse Act, and searched a house in Wickford, Essex, where they seized computer equipment which will undergo forensic examination.
The FBI and local Essex police worked in co-operation with the PCeU to investigate the case. The arrested man, who has been named as Ryan Cleary in many media reports, has been taken to a London police station for questioning.
It's important to note at this point that it has not been confirmed that the arrested man is suspected by the authorities of being involved with LulzSec. But many observers are speculating that that could be the case.

The controversial LulzSec group have been playing a dangerous game as they targeted "big players" such as the crime-fighting agencies around the world. Inevitably the authorities were not going to take kindly to that, and would put man-power to work seeking out intelligence as to who could be involved.
Seemingly drunk with the popularity of their Twitter account (which has more than 220,000 followers) they have becoming increasingly vocal in the messages they have made public, and embarrassed computer crime authorities and large organisations around the world with their attacks.
One had to wonder if all of this bragging could lead to the group's downfall. It would, after all, be hard to keep a secret from friends and peers if you were a member of LulzSec.
There has been much speculation recently regarding who might be behind LulzSec - if the police believe that they have cracked the group then a strong messaage will be sent to others considering engaging in illegal acts such as malicious hacking and denial-of-service attacks.
It will be interesting to see if LulzSec's Twitter account is updated, or has anything more to say about the arrest. Will it be a case of "who lulz last, laughs longest?"


http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2011/06/21/lulzsec-suspect-arrested-scotland-yard/

CIA website and FBI hacked by LulzSec

Hacking collective LulzSec has decided to stop giving online gaming sites a hard time and instead put its efforts into taking down the CIA's website and the FBI's phone network.
Last week the group managed to DDoS the CIA's homepage and along with it the FBI's phone network in Detroit.
As per usual LulzSec kept everyone updated with its hacking shenanigans on Twitter, posting on the site: "Tango down – CIA.Gov- for the lulz.".
According to reports, it wasn't just the CIA and the FBI, either - the US Senate's website was also a target, but the group failed to compromise the site.

Love hack
LulzSec has been extremely busy over the last few weeks, but it has mostly targeted gaming sites. Its Titanic Takeover Tuesday campaign saw the group hack into Eve Online, Minecraft, League of Legends and FinFisher.
Even though LulzSec seems to be infiltrating websites just to show how poor the security is, this latest wave of hacks will have the US government keeping more than a close eye on it.

 http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/cia-website-and-fbi-hacked-by-lulzsec-966715#ixzz1PzhuXoHY

NASDAQ Issues Statement on Security Breach

Through our normal security monitoring systems we detected suspicious files on the U.S. servers unrelated to our trading systems and determined that our web facing application Directors Desk was potentially affected. We immediately conducted an investigation, which included outside forensic firms and U.S. federal law enforcement. The files were immediately removed and at this point there is no evidence that any Directors Desk customer information was accessed or acquired by hackers. Our trading platform architecture operates independently from our web-facing services like Directors Desk and at no point was any of NASDAQ OMX’s operated or serviced trading platforms compromised.

Subsequently, the U.S. Department of Justice requested that we refrain from providing notice to our customers until, at the earliest, February 14, 2011, in order to facilitate the continuing investigation. NASDAQ OMX was honoring the U.S. Government’s request to delay notification, but when a story ran in the media on Saturday, February, 5, 2011, regarding a hacking incident at NASDAQ OMX, we immediately decided, in consultation with the authorities, that we must inform our customers.

We continue to evaluate and enhance our advanced security controls to respond to the ever increasing global cyber threat and continue to devote extensive resources to further secure our systems. Cyber attacks against corporations and government occur constantly. NASDAQ OMX remains vigilant against such attacks. We have been working in cooperation with the Government’s ongoing investigations and have received their technical advice for which we are appreciative.


ttps://www.infosecisland.com/blogview/11627-NASDAQ-Issues-Statement-on-Security-Breach.html?goback=.gde_130203_member_43176784

FBI Investigating NASDAQ DDOS Attacks

An investigation is now underway by Federal agents over numerous network intrusions that run the Nasdaq Stock exchange, according to cnet.
Although the hackers did not affect the exchange’s trading platforms, it is not quite clear at this time what other parts of the network were accessed.
The FBI recently launched an investigation and announced they are considering a range of motives for the intrusions, including a threat to national security, financial gain, and theft of trade secrets.
Reports say that those familiar with the investigation are saying that surfaced evidence points to Russia as the intruder’s location. However, investigators warn that the hackers may be using the country as a channel for their actions.
This is not the first time the Nasdaq has been targeted by hackers. In 1999, the group called “United Loan Gunmen” accessed the site and posted a headline entitled “United Loan Gunmen take control of Nasdaq stock market.” The headline was quickly erased and Nasdaq officials said that the trading platforms were never breached.

http://www.thehostingnews.com/fbi-investigating-nasdaq-ddos-attacks-16245.html

Planned DDoS attack against Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA).

 

Operation Payback was supposed to be on a break for a while, but that was before the word got out that the FBI was investigating their activities. The attempt to carry out an attack this soon could be a not-so-subtle message to the FBI that they are undeterred.

The group still has quite a list of possible targets that they have yet to hit, most of which are outside of the United States. Where they will strike next is anyone’s guess.

http://www.myce.com/news/operation-payback-carries-on-attacks-despite-fbi-investigation-36469/

FBI`s investigations into 4chan 'Anonymous' DDoS attacks

 

Over the past two months, a group calling itself "Anonymous," with links to the 4chan Web forum and image board, has launched distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS) against Web sites operated by the Motion Picture Association of America, The Recording Industry Association (RIAA), Hustler magazine, rocker Gene Simmons, The British Phonographic Industry, and other similar groups in France, Australia, Spain and elsewhere.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20022264-261.html